This needs to be said… I am loving the second Stephen Jackson era so far. Have you heard Jackson complain once about his contract since becoming a member of the San Antonio Spurs? He’s been a terrific role player so far, a terrific teammate always cheering on all of his teammates and I have a feeling we’re going to be seeing a lot of Jack at the stretch four as the postseason rolls on.

Even better, we finally have someone who will dish on Tim Duncan (H/T to the Salt Lake City Tribune’s trio of NBA writers for the knowledge).

“Tim’s a real guy. He’s a real dude. What you see is what you get, and that’s how I am. And he knows that about me. He knows that I’m one of those guys that — I’m a very humble guy. I’m just real humble about having the talent of basketball and the gift of basketball and he knows anything I do is about me being competitive and wanting to win, and he knows that. And that’s one person that know me better than anybody. And I think he’s never let that — that hasn’t changed, even though I’ve made some mistakes in my career, he knows my heart. And that’s one guy I consider a close friend of mine.”

Also, it’s important you know Jack said Duncan has both of his rap albums/CDs/Mix-Tapes.

I have no idea if Duncan has listened to them, but he has them and that’s all that matters. The thing about Jackson on the Spurs is having Duncan, Gregg Popovich, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili around seems to make him an incredibly happy and focused basketball player.

There have been very few bad shots and I definitely haven’t seen him go in to hero ball mode at any point during a game. It’s nice to have Jack back, especially if he keeps telling Duncan and Coach Pop secrets.